Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction. Opened for Signature at London, Moscow and Washington. 10 April 1972.

Deficiencies of the Geneva Protocol of 17 June 1925 and the wish to prohibit not only the use but also the production and stockpiling of biological and chemical weapons induced the U.N. General Assembly and the Committee on Disarmament to take up this question. The Convention was drafted by the Committee on Disarmament and recommended for adherence by Resolution 2826 (XXVI) of the General Assembly on 16 December 1971. It is limited to biological weapons. The inclusion of chemical weapons proved impossible as no agreement on international supervision could be attained. With regard to biological weapons, international supervision of the production and stockpiling of such weapons seemed to be dispensable as it is assumed that the use of such weapons would have no immediate military advantage. Although the present Convention deals with questions of disarmament and does not belong to the law of armed conflicts in its strict sense it is included in this collection the view of its close relationship with the Geneva Protocol of 1925.